Dasharatha (दशरथ:)

Dasharatha (Sanskrit: दशरथ:, Daśarathah) was a descendant of the Raghuvansha-Ikshvaku-Suryavansha dynasty and the Maharaja of Ayodhya.

He was the son of Aja and Indumati. His three prominent queens were Kausalya, Kaikeyi and Sumitra. He had four sons - Rama , Bharatha, Lakshmana, Shatrughna.

Saintly King (raja-rsi)

When Dasharatha ruled Ayodhya, the great sage Visvamitra once came to him to take away Lord Ramacandra and Laksmana to the forest to kill a demon. When the saintly person Visvamitra came to the court of Maharaja Dasharatha, the King, in order to receive the saintly person, asked him, aihistam yat tat punar janma jayaya. He asked the sage whether everything was going on well in his endeavor to conquer the repetition of birth and death. The whole process of Vedic civilization is based on this point. Through the disciplic succession the royal order was on the same platform as great saintly persons (raja-rsis). Formerly they could understand the philosophy of life and knew how to train the citizens to come to the same standard. In other words, they knew how to deliver the citizens from the entanglement of birth and death.

When Dasharatha used to fight with his enemies, it was said that he approached them just like a farmer uprooting unnecessary plants and trees. And when there was need of giving charity, he used to distribute money exactly as the cloud distributes rain.

Marriage

Dasharatha had 351 wives of which three were prominently known. Sri Rama had 350 step mothers. त्रयः शत शत अर्धा हि ददर्श अवेक्ष्य मातरः || It is mentioned in Vishnu Purana that to be exempted to be killed by Parasurama, Dasharatha married many times. Parasurama has vowed to empty the earth of all Kshatriyas. But he would not kill a Kshatriya, who had marriage kangan on his wrist. This kangan, yellow band of thread was used to be worn for one year from the date of marriage. Whenever Dasharatha Maharaja heard the news that Parasurama is on his way, Vasistha muni would tell him to get married. It was essential for the king to survive for the society to survive.

Birth of four sons

Dasharatha gave in charity one of his daughters, by the name Santa, to his friend Romapada because Romapada was without issue. Romapada accepted Santa as his daughter, and the great sage Rishyasringa married her. When the demigods from the heavenly planets failed to shower rain, Rishyasringa was appointed the priest for performing a sacrifice, after being brought from the forest by the allurement of prostitutes, who danced, staged theatrical performances accompanied by music, and embraced and worshiped him. After Rishyasringa came, the rain fell. Thereafter, Rishyasringa performed a son-giving sacrifice on behalf of Dasharatha, who had no issue, and then Dasharatha had sons. (Bhagavata Purana 9.23.7-10)

Dasharatha's anxieties

Dasharatha Maharaja’s nature was to not reveal his painful secrets to anyone. His tendency was to suffer pain for oneself. This was due to his good character.

Promise to Ashvapathi

His anxiety was how to tell Ashvapati that his daughter's son, Bharata, cannot become king. Rama was elder, qualified and was loved by all the citizens. He was supposed to be the king. Also, Kaikayi did not know of the promise of Dasharatha to Asvapati.

Death of Shravan Kumar

Another anxiety of Dasharatha maharaja which he had never told anyone was the curse by the old parents of Shravan Kumar. As a young king, he went for hunting. He had the capacity to shot the target without seeing but just by hearing (sabda vedi). By mistake, he had involuntarily ended up piercing the innocent Shravan Kumar by his arrow.

Honest King

Shravan Kumar, in his last moments, told the king to fetch water for his parents as they were thirsty and inform them of what had happened. Dasharatha maharaja did not escape from there, but he faced the helpless and pained parents with responsibility. This was his greatest quality. Many scriptures proclaim that God consciousness resides in honesty. Of course, if the other party does not have competence to appreciate and handle honesty, then the accused is exploited and disgraced.

The curse

Dasharatha first tried to feed them water however parents were wondering why their son was so late. Dasharatha told them about their son's death. They said that because of the mere fact that the king did not run away, he was alive, if he had not come to them, his head would have been burst into hundreds of pieces. Although the parents were from some mixed caste, they were tapasvis. Dasharatha took them to their dead son. Due to intense pain they could not contain their life. Before dying they cursed Dasharatha to go through the same experience, of dying due to separation from his son.

Intense pain and intense happiness, both create problem if not balanced. If there exists certain vega (urge) then controlling them artificially will create issue. The vega has to be addressed. The father could not hold back his pain, it took the form of a curse. The curse and benediction comes from principle of karma. Here the curse speeded up the karma of the king which otherwise had to be experienced anyway later.